Savino Leads Baseball's All-Conference Awards

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ORONO, Maine – Four University at Albany baseball players took home five America East All-Conference accolades following the 2018 regular season, the conference offices announced at the baseball awards banquet Tuesday night before the start of the America East Tournament. The Great Danes landed one All-Conference First Team member, two All-Rookies, and two All-Academics.

Dominic Savino, a junior right-handed pitcher from Smithtown, N.Y., repeated as First Team All-Conference honoree. Savino, who led the America East with seven wins on the season, was named as a starting pitcher having moved from the closer spot in UAlbany’s bullpen he occupied for the last two seasons. In fact, last year he was named to the All-Conference First Team as a relief pitcher. Beyond his league-leading seven victories, Savino accumulated a 3.75 ERA in 14 appearances, pitching 72.0 innings and recording 63 strikeouts while seeing opposing batters hit .267 against him. Savino was also named to the All-Academic team for the second straight season, having accumulated a 3.60 GPA studying Actuarial & Mathematical Science.

John Clayton and Ryan Hernandez were named to the All-Rookie team. Clayton, a redshirt-freshman right-handed pitcher from Glenville, N.Y., was thrust into a starting role following season-altering injuries to UAlbany’s projected starting rotation. In 11 starts, Clayton went 4-4 with a 4.58 ERA over 59.0 innings, striking out 39.

Hernandez, a freshman first baseman from Boston, Mass., ranked second in the team batting .288 while starting 43 of the 44 games in which he appeared this season. He hit 13 doubles, two home runs, and drove in 12 runs on the season while slugging .410 with an on-base percentage of .345. Hernandez was named America East Rookie of the Week on March 6.

Joining Savino on the All-Academic team was junior catcher Matt Codispoti. Codispoti, who filled in behind the plate following the graduation of Evan Harasta, who was named to last year’s All-Academic team, has accumulated a 3.66 GPA while also studying Actuarial and Mathematical Science.

Hartford swept the major awards, seeing Nicholas Dombkowski named Rookie of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, Nick Campana named Player of the Year, and head coach Justin Blood named Coach of the Year. After finishing seventh in the America East standings a year ago, the Hawks have clinched the top overall seed in this year’s America East Tournament.

The 2018 America East Tournament commences tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. with four-seed Stony Brook playing five-seed and tournament host Maine in the opening game. UAlbany will play three-seed UMBC at 2:30 p.m. after denying the Retrievers a chance at the two-seed and a first-round bye. The loser of the first two games will face off at 6:00 p.m. in the tournament’s first elimination game.